2016 repress. Originally released on vinyl in 2012. "Café OTO is a concert venue operating in Dalston, East London, specializing in various strains of avant-music: free-jazz, song, electronics, etc. OTO have been professionally recording various shows on and off since the venue opened in 2008. Available in a deluxe vinyl edition, The Worse the Better is a recording of the stunning first set performed by the trio of Peter Brötzmann, Steve Noble and John Edwards at Café OTO in January 2010 during Brötzmanns first residency at the venue. It was also the first time this trio had played together. The concert was recorded at Café OTO by Shane Browne and mastered by Andrea "Lupo" Lubich at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin." - Otoruku.

“Cafe OTOs tenth Otoroku release sees a return to the group that kick-started the label -- the veteran German reedsman and free-jazz pioneer Peter Brötzmann with the long-running London bass/drums partnership of John Edwards and Steve Noble. After the release of The Worse The Better, that group went on to play a series of devastating shows in Europe and to emerge as one of Brötzmanns finest working groups. Over the same period, Peter was developing a deep rapport with Jason Adasiewicz, the upstart vibraphone player from Chicago. What seems on paper like an awkward pairing reveals itself onstage and on record as a symbiotic revelation. Adasiewiczs physical attack matching Brötzmann for impact while the extended sustain of the vibes opens up an eerie space for some of Brötzmanns most fertile lyricism. The recording is from the last set of a two-day residency at Cafe OTO that brought these two groups together for an astonishing quartet. Adasiewicz and Noble struck up an immense partnership in rhythm. Edwards wrestled with a broken house bass and failing amplifier and still managed new levels of invention -- stoking the others onwards. Brötzmann was clearly energized, dancing at the side of the stage while exchanging a shattered reed. And for all the usual rhetoric of free jazz bluster and machismo, this is a meeting characterized by the joy of communal creation that makes you want to dance -- even if only in your head. Peter Brötzmann (alto and tenor sax, B-flat clarinet, Taragato); Jason Adasiewicz (vibraphone), John Edwards (double bass); Steve Noble (drums).” - Otoroku.

"Song Sentimentale, featuring unique material on each format, was recorded on January 27-29, 2015, at Cafe OTO. Song Sentimentale, featuring unique material on each format, was recorded on January 27-29, 2015, at Cafe OTO. was recorded on January 27-29, 2015, at Cafe OTO. Outside of the 2CD release Never Too Late But Always Too Early (2003) there has been scant documentation of one of the most dynamic pairings in all free jazz. Song Sentimentale rectifies this anomaly with a full-blown audio account of the breathtaking communicative heights obtained by these three legends of the living. Over three nights in January 2015, the trio seduced a winter-worn crowd with the kind of organic interplay only these three can conjure. Warm and urgent, the material unveils a wide range of techniques and emotions. This is music on the edge of itself; a living, breathing and existing force documented for repeated visits. Peter Brötzmann - tenor saxophone, B flat clarinet, tarogato; William Parker - double bass, guembri, shakuhachi, shenai; Hamid Drake - drums, frame drum, voice. Recorded Live at Cafe OTO on the 27th, 28th and 29th of January 2015." - Otoroku.

"Song Sentimentale, featuring unique material on each format, was recorded on January 27-29, 2015, at Cafe OTO. Outside of the 2CD release Never Too Late But Always Too Early (2003) there has been scant documentation of one of the most dynamic pairings in all free jazz. Song Sentimentale rectifies this anomaly with a full-blown audio account of the breathtaking communicative heights obtained by these three legends of the living. Over three nights in January 2015, the trio seduced a winter-worn crowd with the kind of organic interplay only these three can conjure. Warm and urgent, the material unveils a wide range of techniques and emotions. This is music on the edge of itself; a living, breathing and existing force documented for repeated visits. Peter Brötzmann - tenor saxophone, B flat clarinet, tarogato; William Parker - double bass, guembri, shakuhachi, shenai; Hamid Drake - drums, frame drum, voice. Recorded Live at Cafe OTO on the 27th, 28th and 29th of January 2015." - Otoroku.

"Cafe OTO is a concert venue operating in Dalston, East London, specializing in various strains of avant-music: free jazz, song, electronics etc. OTO have been professionally recording various shows on and off since the venue opened in 2008. Their plan is to start releasing some of these recordings in vinyl editions. Available in a deluxe vinyl edition The Worse the Better is a recording of the stunning first set performed by the trio of Peter Brotzmann, Steve Noble and John Edwards at Cafe OTO in January 2010 during Brotzmanns first residency at the venue. It was also the first time this trio had played together. The concert was recorded at Cafe OTO by Shane Browne and mastered by Andrea (LUPO) Lubich at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. The 180g vinyl edition comes with two color silk-screened artwork by Peter Brotzmann printed on acid-free archival card stock and the vinyl is housed in a two color 300gsm OTO-roku stock inner sleeve." -Otoroku.

"OTOroku, the record label arm of Dalstons Cafe OTO, kick off 2013 with an LP release from Decoy with Joe McPhee - Spontaneous Combustion. Recorded in October 2011, Spontaneous Combustion splits the second set of the first night of Decoys two day residency with special guest Joe McPhee across two sides of heavyweight virgin vinyl with two colour artwork by Oliver Pitt. Performed by: Alexander Hawkins, Hammond B3; John Edwards, double bass; Steve Noble, drums ; Joe McPhee , pocket trumpet, alto sax." -Otoruku.

"Otoroku presents a new 2CD version of Spontaneous Combustion, here with an extra 78 minutes of music added to the original LP material. The original LP was listed in The Wire magazines top jazz & improv releases of 2013. Recorded in October 2011, Spontaneous Combustion splits the second set of the first night of Decoys two day residency with special guest Joe McPhee. Performed by: Alexander Hawkins (Hammond B3); John Edwards (double bass); Steve Noble (drums); Joe McPhee (pocket trumpet, alto sax)." - Otoroku.

"III (pronounced /el/) is Daichi Yoshikawa, Paul Abbott and Seymour Wright. This recording includes two bare 20-minute excerpts from separate performances at Café OTO. Daichi Yoshikawa (feedback); Paul Abbott (drums); Seymour Wright (alto saxophone). gjerhan began from subterranea, sweat, haze and dedication emerging out of intimate and intense weekly meetings begun in 2009 -- their first, 2012 public performance, squeezed into a London basement was a sheer, vexed and exhilarating smack of organic, heterodyning ideas, and taut, low-beating lumps. Reemerge/revanish: With the economy of familiar/traditional raw tools feedback, drum-kit, alto saxophone, time, space and emotion, III move from molten musical pasts to grow future pleasures in sound. The ingredients are familiar, but the listening is not: At its heart is a still, undecorated concentration fuelling an extreme testing of limbs, language and order. This has no concern with collapsing difference into a vogueish, flattened mass-froth, but searches -- forensically, ceaselessly -- for something to chew, in the challenge of discretion and integrity or asylum in the body of its instruments. Akilsakilan learning, Doughnut: Finding, twisting and hammering out an expanding musical universe balanced only by its own logic -- III have few obvious comparisons. Their performances are consistent radical negotiations of the emotional, physical and social energies of the environments they sound out. Perfectly reasonable." - Otoroku.

“The full recording of the first meeting between Bill Orcutt (USA) and Okkyung Lee (South Korea). Individually these players have focused on an idiosyncratic approach to their chosen instruments and technique. Okkyung is one of the most singular voices to compromise the cellos classical origin, while Orcutt has spent many years developing a unique abstraction of traditional guitar blues. Live at Cafe OTO is an uncompromising combination of these individual elements and an ecstatic improvised assault of mind and sense. Okkyung Lee: cello. Bill Orcutt: guitar.180-gram LP in matte sleeve with artwork by Bill Orcutt. Limited edition of 500.” - Otoroku.

"The recordings on this double LP are taken from the first night of Roscoe Mitchells inaugural two day residency at Cafe OTO in 2012, and his first time playing with drummer Tony Marsh and double bassist John Edwards. It was one of those nights where the music electrifies the room. Everyone on edge. Everything alive with the possibilities. Although there was much talk after the concert of the group playing together again, this would sadly be the first and last time the trio would play. Tony passed away unexpectedly just a few weeks later, making this his last documented performance and a fitting tribute to a truly great drummer and percussionist. The LPs are house in two color screen-print sleeve designed by Oliver Pitt and screen-printed on archival quality card stock. High quality 180 gram vinyl pressing at Record Industry, The Netherlands. Recorded by James Dunn and John Chantler at Cafe OTO, 9th March 2012. Mixed by John Chantler. Mastered by Andreas [LUPO] Lubich at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin." - Otoroku

"Vi Ar Alla Guds Slavar is the latest missive from the long-running duo pairing of Mats Gustafsson (The Thing, Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, etc) and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth, Chelsea Light Moving, Dream/Aktion Unit, etc). The recordings presented here are continuous excerpts taken from the heavyweight, high volume duo sets that topped off each night of their two day residency at Cafe OTO in September 2012. Mats mostly plays a selection of amplified table-top electronics as well as some knotty soprano saxophone at the beginning of the second side whilst Thurston offers a fine example of the kind of liminal intensity he is capable of generating from his guitar complete with the low frequency/octave doubling dive-bombs that have had us replace the speakers in our fender twin twice since he relocated to London last year. The title Vi Ar Alla Guds Slavar translates as We Are All Slaves Under God and is taken from the painting by Edward Jarvis that also serves as the three colour screenprint for the LP sleeve. Printing by Patrick Wells at Heavyrock on archival quality card stock. Mixed by Robert Harder. Mastered by Andreas LUPO Lubich @ Calyx. Pressed on high quality 180 gram vinyl at Record Industry in The Netherlands. First pressing of 1000." -Ototoku.

“Born in Tbilisi, Georgia, Nargilә Mehtiyeva aka Aşıq Nargilә has been playing saz (long-necked lute) and singing since the age of 15. Fluent in Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Russian, Nargilә represents the cosmopolitan heritage of old Tbilisi, a city once known as a meeting point for multilingual aşıq bards who would travel through the region serving as conduits for news, ideas, music, and culture. Nargilә is currently the only female aşıq living and performing in the ethnic Azeri region of Georgia, and has been teaching the art to new generations. This is a recording of Aşıq Nargilәs first concert in the UK, recorded live at Cafe OTO on October 18, 2014, by James Dunn. The pieces performed are named after the traditional saz aşıq havası (melodies) on which they are based. Lyrics are taken from destan epics, regional poetry, and Nargilәs own lyrics to match the rhyming patterns of these melodies. "Yanıq Kerem" and "Ruhani" are both instrumental pieces that depict their own stories without words. "Ay Ceyranım" is a popular song performed at weddings across Azerbaijan. Aşıq Nargilә Mehtiyeva: saz (long-necked lute) and söz (vocals).” - Otoroku.

"The Hurrah is the second recorded outing from the universe-shifting free jazz trio of Evan Parker, John Edwards, and Chris Corsano. This trio has been playing together since 2006, sometimes expanding into quartets with the likes of Noah Howard, John Russell, Joe McPhee, John Coxon, and Paul Dunmall. The material on this LP was recorded by James Dunn at Cafe OTO in London on August 22, 2014, during Corsanos four-night residency. All material recorded live; no editing or post-production. As raw and liberating as it was on the evening. Evan Parker: tenor saxophone; John Edwards: double bass; Chris Corsano: drums. All compositions by Evan Parker/John Edwards/Chris Corsano. Artwork by Dennis Tyfus. Mixed by Rupert Clervaux at Grays Inn Road, London. Mastered by Andreas "Lupo" Lubich at Calyx, Berlin." - Otoroku.

"Otoroku caps off the 2014 celebrations of saxophonist Evan Parkers 70th birthday with a vinyl reissue of The Topography of the Lungs, by Parker, guitarist Derek Bailey, and percussionist Han Bennink -- Parkers first recording as a leader. Originally released in 1970, this was the first LP issued by Incus, the label that Parker founded with Bailey and drummer Tony Oxley. This reissue has been produced from an original vinyl pressing from Parkers archives, carefully transcribed and restored by Andreas (Lupo) Lubich at Calyx Mastering, Berlin." - Otoroku.

“Born in 1964, Yukihiro Isso is a Japanese Noh flutist (hayashikata fuekata) from a family that has been playing this instrument since the 16th century. He received his initial instruction in flute playing from his father, Yukimasa Isso, and performed on the Noh stage for the first time at the age of nine. Beginning in his middle school years, he began listening to a variety of different kinds of music and studying new instruments including the recorder and piano. An acclaimed performer of classical Noh repertoire, Isso is also an accomplished improviser and has performed with the likes of Cecil Taylor, Peter Brötzmann, and John Zorn. Born in 1946, Roger Turner grew up among the Canterbury musical life of the 1960s with a strong jazz foundation. Since 1974 his work has been concentrated on exploring a more personal percussion language through the processes of improvisation. Solo work; collaborations with experimental rock musics and open-form song; extensive work with dance, film, and visual art; involvements in numerous jazz-based ensembles; and workshop residencies have formed part of that development. Takanehishigu is the audio documentation of the first time these artists played together. The results are a breathtaking new music that remains respectful to the individual traditions while simultaneously subverting them. Yukihiro Isso: Nohkan (Noh flute), shinobue, dengakubue, gemshorn, and recorder. Roger Turner: percussion. Recorded live at Cafe OTO on September 23, 2016, by Shaun Crook, mixed by John Chantler, and mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi. Artwork by Paul Abbott. Edition of 500.” - Otoroku.

"Recorded live at Londons Café OTO in March 2009 during Otomo Yoshihides first residency here. This is one of only a handful of solo piano performances Otomo has given where he uses the instrument as a control matrix for harmonically-rich feedback tones and devastating clusters of complex noise. First run of 500 pressed at Record Industry in The Netherlands on high-quality heavyweight vinyl. Three-color screenprinted sleeve designed by Paul Abbott and printed by Pat at Heavyrock Screenprinting on archival-quality card. Mastered and cut by Andreas "Lupo" Lubich at 45rpm. Otomo Yoshihide is one of the most important musicians of the Japanese underground/avant-garde. He moves between free jazz, noise, improvisation, composition, and the unclassifiable with a generosity that opens up the possibilities for expression in all of the constellations with which hes involved. After the earthquake/tsunami struck his native Fukushima in early 2011, Otomo played very little outside of Japan, dedicating a considerable amount of energy to the relief efforts there, including the annual international Project Fukushima concerts. He played at Café OTO in 2013 for two stunning multi-day residencies, including a revision of the remarkable piano solo captured on this LP. Influenced by his father, an engineer, Otomo began making electrical devices such as a radio and an electronic oscillator in his early teens, and his first experience of creating music was by making sound collages using open-reel tape recorders while still in junior high school. Soon after entering high school, he formed a band which played rock and jazz, with Otomo on guitar. It wasnt long, however, before he became a free-jazz aficionado, listening to artists like Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy and Derek Bailey; and hearing music, both on disk and at concerts, by Japanese free jazz artists including the great alto sax player Kaoru Abe and guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi. In 1990, Otomo started what was to become Ground Zero. Until it disbanded in March 1998, the band was at the core of his musical creativity, while it underwent several changes in style and membership. Since Ground Zero, Otomo has embraced minimal improvisation, film music and the jazz/big-band conceptions of his new jazz quartet/quintet/orchestra." - Otoroku.

"The final night of Otomo Yoshihides and Sachiko Ms first residency at Londons Café OTO in 2009 saw the pair joined by the long-running trio of Evan Parker, John Edwards, Tony Marsh and special guest John Butcher. Butcher played duos with both Otomo and Sachiko and joined the quintet for a rousing sextet: stunning twin saxophone interplay, the unparalleled openness of the Marsh/Edwards rhythm pairing, Sachikos deft high-frequency interventions and Otomos guitar at the center -- moving between abrasive textural invention and suggestive single note runs of ever-shifting melody. Otomo Yoshihide is one of the most important musicians of the Japanese underground/avant-garde. He moves between free jazz, noise, improvisation, composition and the unclassifiable with a generosity that opens up the possibilities for expression in all of the constellations with which hes involved. After the earthquake/tsunami struck his native Fukushima in early 2011, Otomo played very little outside of Japan, dedicating a considerable amount of energy to the relief efforts there, including the annual international Project Fukushima concerts. He played Londons Café OTO in 2013 for two stunning multi-day residencies, including a revision of the remarkable piano solo he first performed in 2009 and a ripping quintet with John Butcher, Mats Gustafsson, Guillaume Viltard and Mark Sanders. Sachiko M has been active as a sampler player since 1994. Early in her career she was involved in the cut-up and "plunderphonic" (or "plagiaristic") sampling movements. In 1998, in a drastic departure from those approaches, she originated the revolutionary method she uses to this day -- manipulating the samplers internal test tones. With the 2000 release of Sine Wave Solo, her extreme solo recording consisting entirely of sine waves, Sachiko M suddenly became the focus of intense interest on the international scene, including European music festivals and Britains Wire magazine. Since then, shes been active on an irregular basis in a number of projects -- including the experimental electronic music duo Filament, the electronics trio I.S.O., a duo with Toshimaru Nakamura, and the duo Cosmos with Ami Yoshida -- in addition to collaborating with various musicians from other countries. Evan Parker has been a consistently innovative presence in British free music since the 1960s. Parker played with John Stevens in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, experimenting with new kinds of group improvisation and held a long-standing partnership with guitarist Derek Bailey. The two formed the Music Improvisation Company and later Incus Records. He also has tight associations with European free improvisations -- playing on Peter Brötzmanns legendary Machine Gun session (1968), with Alexander Von Schlippenbach and Paul Lovens (a trio that continues to this day), Globe Unity Orchestra, Chris McGregors Brotherhood Of Breath, and Barry Guys London Jazz Composers Orchestra (LJCO). John Edwards has played with Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke, and many others. Tony Marsh was a vital presence in Londons improvised music scene right up until his shocking passing in April 2012. John Butcher is a saxophonist of rare grace and power, who has expanded the vocabulary of the saxophone far beyond the conventions of jazz and other musics, to encompass a staggering range of harmonics, multiphonics, overtones, percussive sounds, and electronic feedback. But his playing is far more than merely an array of special effects: its characterized by an intensity that propels it into strange new places that are both incredibly beautiful and deeply exhilarating. Otomo Yoshihide (guitar), Sachiko M (sampler), Evan Parker (saxophones), John Edwards (double bass), Tony Marsh (drums), John Butcher (saxophones, side B). First pressing of 500. Three-color screenprinted sleeve designed by Paul Abbott and printed by Pat @ Heavyrock Screenprinting on archival-quality card. Mastered and cut by Andreas "Lupo" Lubich at Calyx. Pressed at Record Industry in The Netherlands on high-quality heavyweight vinyl." - Otoroku.